South Korea-based Hankook Tire Co. may be on the verge of announcing plans to build a plant in Clarksville, Tenn., that would cost between $700 million and $800 million and employ 1,000-1,200 people, according to multiple reports Thursday.

The company could be the industrial prospect that Clarksville officials said in late August was considering building a plant of that size in the city, most likely in the Clarksville-Montgomery County International Business Park on the east side of Interstate 24.

A South Korean newspaper, The Korea Times, reports that the tire company is in final negotiations to build its first U.S. plant “near Nashville,” and it would be able to produce about 10 million tires a year.

The newspaper said Hankook officials would visit Tennessee next week to “sign a memorandum of understanding with U.S. officials on building the plant near Nashville,” quoting an unnamed “senior U.S. auto industry official” on Wednesday.

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, which reportedly is working on an incentive package for the company, declined to confirm the reports.

“It is our policy not to comment on any ongoing unannounced projects,” spokeswoman Laura Elkins said.

Hankook officials at their U.S. headquarters in Wayne, N.J., did not return calls Thursday seeking information about the company’s plans.

But Suh Seung-hwa, vice chairman and CEO of Hankook, said last month that his company would make a final decision on a U.S. plant site by the end of the year, and that Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee were the finalists for the facility, the newspaper said.

Hankook’s website says it is the world’s seventh-largest tiremaker by sales revenue and sells its products in 185 countries. It has 14,000 employees worldwide, four regional headquarters, more than 20 overseas subsidiaries and five research and development centers, including one in Akron, Ohio.

Besides the New Jersey headquarters, the company’s U.S. unit, Hankook Tire America, has regional offices in Detroit, California, Texas, Illinois and Suwanee, Ga. It also has 1.7 million square feet of warehouse space that can hold up to 2.5 million tires, with distribution centers in New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, Illinois, California and Oregon.

Hankook reportedly has a 5 percent share of the U.S. tire market. Hankook tires are sold through retail outlets, as well as being mounted on new cars by several automakers, including Ford Motor Co.

The Clarksville site has easy access to Interstate 24, and is served by the R.J. Corman Railroad, a short line service that connects to the CSX mainline in nearby Guthrie, Ky. An R.J. Corman official said Thursday that the railroad is aware of the Hankook project but declined to discuss details of any talks with the tire company about providing rail service to the plant.

Japan-based Bridgestone Corp., whose Americas headquarters is in Nashville, is the world’s largest tire and rubber company. It already has a plant in Clarksville that produces steel cord for its tires, employing about 400 workers.